The present invention relates to a warhead enclosing an explosive charge, and more particularly to a warhead including a casing surrounding the charge, a liner for the charge, and a fastening device, including an intermediate ring disposed at the circumference of the liner, for attaching the liner to the casing.
In order to construct warheads having great penetration power, it is often necessary for the liner of the charge, be it a shaped charge or a projectile forming charge, to be composed of a material that is different from that of the warhead casing. If, however, a casing and a liner of different materials are subjected to a thermal stress, for example when working with hot explosives or due to environmental influences, the differences in the coefficient of thermal expansion .alpha..sub.E of the liner and the coefficient of thermal expansion .alpha..sub.H of the casing cause deformations of the liner and of the casing. This may irreversibly move the liner into a position which is asymmetrical relative to the body of the casing so that projectiles resulting from explosive reshaping are asymmetrical and exhibit nonreproducible flight behavior. Such behavior will occur primarily if .alpha..sub.E &lt;.alpha..sub.H.
German Patent No. DE 3,441,693.C1 and corresponding U.S. Pat. No. 4,703,695 disclose a device for compensating differences in thermal expansion between an explosive charge and a warhead casing. At least two rings are disposed between the liner base and a component fixed to the casing, with the rings being in contact with one another by way of conical interior or exterior faces, respectively.
The ring having the conical exterior face is composed of a material which has a lower coefficient of thermal expansion than the material of the ring having the conical interior face. The cone angles of the interior and exterior faces, respectively, are matched so that a required length equalization takes place. However, these patent specifications do not disclose a means for compensating for differences in the coefficients of thermal expansion between casing and liner.